Upcoming Industry Events

Co-sponsored by the Shenehon Center for Real Estate and MNCREW, this half day event will feature a keynote presentation by Collete English Dixon, Past President of CREW Network and Principal at Prudential Real Estate Investors, and a panel discussion about the changing working environment for women in commercial real estate.

Collete English Dixon’s work ethic is legendary in the commercial real estate business. She began her career at Prudential in 1979 as an asset management analyst. Today, as the vice president of transactions, Collete is responsible for a team who has completed more than $2 billion in portfolio assets. During her presentation, Collete will give an update on capital markets and share the CREW network research results. She will also discuss her career story and share lessons learned along the way.

Keri Kindelspire, director of business development and marketing, Anderson Companies

With careers spanning over five decades, our panelists will discuss how the commercial real estate industry has evolved over time for women. Representing three different generations, our panelists will share experiences from their past and present, and discuss where they see the future of the commercial real estate business.

The 23rd Annual Business Valuation Conference will be held Wednesday, February 6. This conference covers topics of interest to attorneys, accountants, business brokers, business owners, commercial real estate brokers, lenders, investment bankers, appraisers and others who regularly encounter business valuation issues. It is held at the University of St. Thomas campus in downtown Minneapolis and is presented/sponsored by The UST Shenehon Center for Real Estate, NCCIBA, NACVA, ASA.

Topics featured at the conference include:

Economic Update

The Layman’s Use of Regression Analysis

Identifying Metrics and Calculating Value in Excel

Basics of a Real Estate Appraisal

Avoiding the Pitfalls When Valuing Machinery & Equipment

Understanding Minimum Compensation in Eminent Domain

When is it Time to Call in the Experts?

Current Court Decisions

This conference has been approved for eight hours of real estate and appraiser continuing education through the Minnesota Department of Commerce.

The University of St. Thomas will be hosting NAIOP’s 9th University Challenge, a competition across 5 universities where student teams act as development consultants for a potential redevelopment project. This year the site is a 1.91 acre site at the intersection of University Ave and Washington Ave in the “heart” of the University of Minnesota’s campus.

Join us Thursday afternoon, April 12 at the University of St. Thomas Minneapolis campus as the teams, including: the University of St. Thomas, University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Marquette University and University of Northern Iowa; present their project concepts with a reception at Brit’s pub immediately following.

Networking. Looking to further your professional involvement and broaden your network in Commercial Real Estate? Minneapolis and St. Paul boast numerous professional CRE associations to become involved with. Here is a look at upcoming real estate events for April 2012.

If you are looking to become more involved in the Commercial Real Estate community this year, Minneapolis and St. Paul boast numerous professional associations to learn industry knowledge and network with other real estate professionals. Take your career and network to the next level in 2012 through professional association attendance and involvement.

Last October, Dr. Anthony Downs provided the keynote address at the first annual Minnesota Real Estate Hall of Fame induction ceremony. His address, Why real estate has become a drag on the US economy was a realistic, unvarnished assessment of the issues that our country was facing at the time. He noted that in previous recessions, real estate had often led the way to recovery. Today, however, real estate is a serious drag on our economy’s ability to return to prosperity.

Dr. Downs will return to the University of St. Thomas on October 26 to present the keynote address, “2012 Real Estate Market Update” for the second annual Minnesota Real Estate Hall of Fame induction ceremony. In preparation for this event, I looked back at his presentation from last fall and was surprised by how relevant his address remains today. I thought it would be interesting to revisit his remarks to see how they compare to actual events in the last year.

Most of the key issues that Dr. Downs mentioned last year are still with us today and many of his predictions have come to pass in the ensuing year. Here are several examples:

Unemployment. Dr. Downs observed “high rates of employment are likely to continue for several more years”. He mentioned consumers will not have the cash to increase spending and small businesses will have little reason to hire more. Related to employment he foresaw “no sudden change in conditions is likely to radically increase the demand for new workers and for new production”. Looking at the national employment rate that has been hovering at just over 9% and the Minnesota rate that has been over 7% since last fall with little prospect of near term improvement, his observations seem to be right on. Continue Reading

Collin Barr, President of the Midwest Region for Ryan Companies, will speak about recent projects and current industry trends at the University of St. Thomas Schulze Hall Auditorium in Minneapolis this Tuesday beginning at 5:45 p.m. The program is free and you can register here. Ryan Companies, a national leader in design-build services, development, capital markets, and real estate management was founded in Minnesota over 70 years ago. Ryan Companies has adapted to the current commercial real estate market working in office, industrial, retail, medical office, hotel, apartment/condo, data center, renewable energy and higher education projects. Mr. Barr leads the development of the world headquarters for both US Bancorp and Target Corporation in downtown Minneapolis and has spearheaded several office build to suit, mixed-use and hotel projects. His recent hotel projects include the Sheraton Midtown Minneapolis, W Foshay Minneapolis, Westin Minneapolis and Westin Edina Galleria.

Mark your calendars for this year’s “Big Green Conference” on November 10th. The conference in Bloomington, MN will feature industry experts from both private and public sectors with expertise in public policy, corporate sustainability, and urban development. University of St. Thomas real estate professor Dr. Tom Musil will present a session entitled “Community Benefits Agreements Shaping the Future of Real Estate and Economic Development.” This is an important topic for anyone in the development business to be familiar with, as CBA’s are becoming more common in both large and small scale development.

What are Community Benefits Agreements? Dr. Musil explains CBA’s and his research.

Dr. Tom Musil

Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs) are one of the most powerful tools that community groups have to shape real estate and economic development projects. CBAs have been used in large, highly subsidized urban real estate and economic development projects including Los Angeles International (LAX) Airport, the Staples Center, and Yankee Stadium, and the use of CBAs will likely expand to smaller-scale development projects in the future. This paper presents a comprehensive review of CBA advocacy groups, enforcement, and land use regulatory issues and a survey on the nature and composition of community stakeholders negotiating CBAs with real estate developers in the U.S. It presents the first survey research investigating CBAs.

The development of CBAs has slowly occurred over the last thirteen years with the support of foundations, labor unions, and CBA coalition advocacy groups. CBAs establish a process for developers to include community objectives as part of a development. They are legally binding contracts between developers and CBA coalitions. Once the CBAs are negotiated, developers then approach the issues of regulatory applications, reviews, and approvals. The CBA process is generally simple. A developer enters into a private contract, usually with a coalition of community, faith-based, or special interest groups in exchange for their support, cooperation, or forbearance regarding the proposed development. CBAs are generally negotiated with the assistance of a national or regional advocacy group(s) knowledgeable about real estate development, law, organizing, community needs, and the CBA process. In some cases, CBAs are incorporated into development agreements between the local units of government and the developers. CBAs can require any of several developer actions, from the use of local contractors to the monitoring of long-term community objectives outlined in the CBAs.

With a CBA in place, the developer can usually accelerate the entitlement process and obtain public subsidies, zoning changes, and use variances.

Sam Thorpe Sr. (1864-1936)Sam Thorpe Sr. was born in Red Wing, Minn., in 1864. He started his first job in 1879 at the age of fifteen years old, working for a farmer. Later, he worked as a messenger at Security Bank, the predecessor of U.S. Bank. In 1885, Mr. Thorpe and his brother started their own company, Thorpe Brothers, Inc., which would grow into the largest real estate firm in Minneapolis. Continue Reading

Jim Ryan (1942-2009)Mr. James R. Ryan helped transform his family’s Minnesota-based construction business into one of the nation’s leading real estate design-build development firms. His first job was in the eighth grade working in his grandfather’s lumberyard, and he never worked anywhere other than Ryan Companies. He became a project manager for the company in 1965 and, nearly 25 years later, he took over as CEO in 1989. Continue Reading